


Keep Your Feet On The Ground And Keep Reaching For The Stars

by awkwardblogger



Series: The Puzzle Piece Verse [1]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Artist Clarke, Bellamy Blake & John Murphy are Best Friends, Bellamy Blake & Raven Reyes Friendship, Child Abandonment, Childhood Friends, Clarke Griffin & John Murphy Friendship, Clarke Griffin & Raven Reyes are Best Friends, F/M, Falling In Love, Fatherhood, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Matchmaker Octavia, Maya Lives, Minor Emori/John Murphy (The 100), Minor Jasper Jordan/Maya Vie, Minor Octavia Blake/Lincoln, Minor Violence, Mom clarke, Motherhood, Mutual Pining, Octavia Ships It, Past Finn Collins/Clarke Griffin, Past Finn Collins/Raven Reyes, Shitty parent Finn, Single Parent Clarke, Strangers to Lovers, Teacher Bellamy, Toddlers, mechanic raven, minor Finn bashing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-01
Updated: 2017-04-11
Packaged: 2018-08-13 02:50:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 12,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7959421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/awkwardblogger/pseuds/awkwardblogger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At age thirty-two, Bellamy Blake was looking for someone to spend the rest of his life with. He didn't expect to find it in thirty year old single mother Clarke Griffin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The title is actually one of my favorite quotes; it was said by Casey Kasem.

Bellamy Blake was the type of man that liked to look out for others. He was obnoxiously protective and had spent a good chunk of his life hoovering over his little sister’s shoulder. The first time he realized he should start looking for someone to settle down with was at the engagement party of his sister, Octavia. All of his friends had shown up with their significant other, his twenty-four year old sister was about to get married, and he was still single. It wasn’t like Bellamy had a problem with relationships or commitment, it just so happened to turn out that every woman Bellamy has ever fallen for ended up leaving. The first was Harper, his high school girlfriend, who broke up with him to go to college across the country. After that was Anya, who he dated for almost two years, who left him for another man. Following that experience Bellamy wasn’t keen on the idea of getting in another relationship, but then he met Echo and fell head over heels for her. They dated for two years before she accepted a job in France and broke up with him because long distance was too much work for her.

What finally convinced him that he needed to start actively looking for a person to settle down with was when his friend John Murphy became a father two weeks after Octavia got married. John was two years younger than Bellamy and had hero worshiped Bellamy during high school. John had a hard exterior, he was the type of person that didn’t trust easily and came across as a dick and he still ended up settling down before Bellamy. Two days after John Murphy became a father, Bellamy signed up for three different dating websites and started trying to get dates with women he met at the gym.

A year into Bellamy’s active search for someone to settle down with, Octavia suggested asking Lincoln or John if they knew someone who they thought he’d click with. Lincoln set him up on three blind dates, all with strong, beautiful women looking for something serious; but none of them lasted to a fourth date. Much to Bellamy’s surprise, John refused to set Bellamy up with any single women he knew.

“Why not?” Bellamy had demanded, blinking stupidly.

“Because this search is stupid, Bell. The right girl will show up when she shows up.” John sighed exasperatedly.

Bellamy grumbled under his breath and the comment but ultimately let it go. John Murphy wasn’t the best expert on love, but he loved his girlfriend, Emori, more than anything, well besides their daughter, Roma. John was a big believer in fate, which made sense seeing as John met Emori in one of the strangest ways Bellamy had ever heard of. The two met while on a road trip during the summer of Murphy’s sophomore year in college. They kept running into each other at gas stations and rest stations and eventually, they got dinner together when John’s wallet was stolen and Emori offered to buy him a tank of gas and dinner for the night. The two hit it off and later that night John found his wallet five feet away from where he was robbed.  The couple blamed the whole thing on fate. Bellamy privately thought that if fate was to blame for all this, it was being a real dick by making Bellamy wait so long to meet the girl he’d want to spend the rest of his life with.

Five months after that conversation with John, Bellamy was waiting in the never ending line at a local coffee shop. He’d had a long, hard day and all he wanted was a cup of coffee before open house at his work, Arkadia High School. The line was slower than malaises and Bellamy was finally one person away from getting his expresso when he heard a loud noise.

_CLUNK!_

“Fuck!” Shouted the woman in front of him.

In front of him, the barista had accidentally dropped a large coffee cup, spilling the coffee everywhere. The woman in front of him was visibly stressed and the teenage barista only made it worse.

“You’re gonna have to pay for another.”

“What?” The blonde woman in front of him gaped. “But you spilled it!”

“Either buy another or get out of line.” The teenager clicked her tongue, rolling her eyes.

“You spilled it; I shouldn’t have to pay for another!” The woman protested, gesturing wildly to the mess on the floor.

“Ma’am get out of line before I call the police.” The teenager drawled, clearly not caring that she just fucked up someone’s day.

The woman looked like she was ready to deck the barista, but instead she grumbled under her breath and stormed out of the coffee shop. Normally, Bellamy wouldn’t care about that type of thing, but the woman had obviously been having a bad day if her unwashed, messy hair and dark circles under her eyes were any indicator. So, Bellamy purchased his expresso and asked for one of whatever the woman in front of him had ordered and then ran out after her with both coffees in hand. He had no idea why he decided to do this, but here he was, running after a girl he’d never met before with a coffee for her.

“Hey! Wait up!” He called.

The blonde woman stopped and turned around to face him. Her face lit up when she saw the extra cup of coffee in his hand. He offered the cup to her with a small smile.

“Here, I got this for you.” He said, suddenly feeling awkward and nervous.

“Thank you! That was really nice of you.” She was smiling so hard it looked like it hurt her face.

She took the coffee and practically inhaled half the cup.

“See you around.” Bellamy said, turning to leave.

“Wait!” She shouted. “Let me pay you back.”

“No, no. It’s fine.”

“No really, here.” She held out a five dollar bill, a sincere smile on her face.

“You really don’t have to.” He said sheepishly.

“No, I insist. It was really sweet of you to do that.”

Gingerly, Bellamy took the money and put it in his pocket. She was still smiling at him when he looked up again. He had to admit, she was beautiful, even with the dark circles under her eyes and her hair greasy.

“I’m Bellamy, Bellamy Blake.” He told her, holding his hand out to shake.

“I’m Clarke Griffin. I’m sorry, I have to go. I’m late.”

“No, that’s okay. I’ll see you around.”

“Thanks again!” She exclaimed before jogging to her car.

He let out a long sigh as she drove out of the parking lot. He should have asked for her number, flirted a little, but instead he acted like a doofus and she drove off. The rest of Bellamy’s was frantic, with parents of flunking students half threatening him and half begging him to pull up their child’s grade. By the end of the night, Clarke, the beautiful blonde from the coffee shop was the last thing on his mind.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bellamy makes friends with a strange little boy named Jack Griffin.

Twice a week Bellamy did tutoring with failing students at Arkadia City Library, the only library in the whole city. It wasn’t uncommon for students to ditch his tutoring if their parents set it up and two weeks after the open house, he found it was no different. Most people would leave the library after the first thirty minutes and no show, but Bellamy had always loved the library; it was his favorite place in the whole city.

Bellamy weaved in and out of the rows and rows of books until he saw something that stopped him in his tracks. Sitting on the floor of the library with a coloring book was a little boy with big blue eyes and curly light brown hair. He was no older than four, sitting right outside the kids section, coloring away. Bellamy looked around for an adult but didn’t see any.

“Hey buddy, where’s your mommy and daddy?” Bellamy asked, walking over to the little boy.

“Mommy went to work.” The little boy said, not even looking up from his coloring book.

“And your daddy?” Bellamy pushed gently.

“I don’t has a daddy.” The little boy answered, looking up at Bellamy. “Who are you?”

“My name is Bellamy. What’s your name?”

“My name is Jack.”

“Okay Jack, why are you here by yourself?”

The little boy grinned and giggled. “I’m not here by myself, silly goose! My auntie Maya is over there!” He pointed to a young woman perched at a desk in the children’s section, answering questions the children and parents had about books and the library.

Bellamy immediately felt like he could breathe better, but a small part of him didn’t want to walk away from the little boy. Jack reminded him a lot of himself at that age; being dropped off at random places with family while his mom worked, his dad never in the picture. He could relate to this little boy and he wasn’t sure that was a good thing.

“Hey, how about you tell your aunt that we’re gonna go over to that table and we sit there and color together?” Bellamy offered, pointing to a round table in the kids section.

“Okay!” Jack grinned, before running off to his aunt as fast as his little legs could carry him.

As Jack talked, he noticed the woman Jack identified as “Aunt Maya” inspecting him from afar, as if to detect if he was trust worthy or not. Apparently he passed the test because Jack waved him over to the table with his clumsy little hands. Bellamy found himself coloring with Jack for an hour before Maya came over and said it was time for Jack to go home. The toddler pouted and claimed he wanted to stay with Bellamy, but Bellamy just smiled.

“No buddy, you gotta go home. I’ll tell you what, I’m here every Tuesday and Thursday, I’ll see you in two days?” Bellamy offered.

Over Jack’s head Maya looked relieved and shot Bellamy a thankful smile as the child decided this was acceptable and followed his aunt out of the library. Shortly after Jack and Maya left Bellamy left the library and drove to Octavia’s house for their biweekly dinner. Luckily Lincoln had cooked so the food was actually edible.

“So how was your day, Lincoln?” Bellamy asked as they dug into their meatloaf.

“It was good, not that interesting though.” Lincoln said with a shrug.

As far as brothers-in-law went, Bellamy could have gotten stuck with someone much worse. Lincoln did have five years on Octavia, but Lincoln was a good man and loved Octavia very much. Lincoln worked as a personal trainer and Octavia worked as a self-defense instructor down at the same gym.

“What about you, Bell? Any kids say anything hilariously stupid in class today?” Octavia asked.

“Class itself was very tame today, but the kid I tutor on Tuesdays skipped today.” Bellamy replied in-between bites.

“Oh man, that sucks.” Lincoln said sympathetically.

“It turned out alright though. I ran into a toddler who was all by himself in the kids section and kept him company until his Aunt took him home.” Bellamy told them, as if this was a regular occurrence.

“What? Where were his parents?” Octavia demanded after briefly chocking on her meatloaf from shock.

“He said his mom was at work and when I asked where his dad was he said he didn’t have one.” Bellamy explained. “But his aunt works at the library, so he was alright.”

“It’s still dangerous and stupid to leave a little kid alone in the library.” Octavia grumbled.

Octavia was a firm believer and everyone having the right to defend themselves and always got worked up when someone clearly couldn’t protect themselves. A small child wouldn’t have been able to protect themselves against a grown man if they were attacked.

“That I agree with.” Lincoln chimed in.

“I know, I agree too. That’s why I kept an eye on him until his aunt could take a break.” Bellamy felt the need to defend himself, almost as if his sister was accusing him of something.

The subject was then dropped, while across town Jack Griffin sat on the couch, eating mac’n’cheese while blabbering on about “Mr. Bell” from the library. Clarke would have been worried about her son randomly befriending a grown man if Maya hadn’t told her that “Mr. Bell” is a teacher who comes to the library to tutor students twice a week. In typical Maya fashion, she suggested that Clarke encourage a relationship between Jack and Mr. Bell, so Jack would have another male figure in his life.

“He has plenty of good male role models in his life, Maya.” Clarke pointed out. “He’s got Jasper, Wick, and Monty. They’re all great men that are in his life.”

“Yes, they are great role models for Jack, but are they enough?” Maya asked.

“Maya, don’t.” Clarke sighed.

“He doesn’t have a father Clarke. He doesn’t view any of the boys as a father like figure, he sees them as friends.”

“I’m not bringing that jerk into his life, Maya, I just won’t.”

“I wasn’t suggesting you do!” Maya cried, holding her hands up in defense. “Finn would have made a horrible father, both you and Jack deserve better than that. What I meant is that you should put yourself out there.”

“After that disaster with Lexa? No thanks.” Clarke scoffed.

“I know that was really tough Clarke, but that doesn’t mean you should give up on love.” Maya gently laid a hand on Clarke’s arm.

“Look, Maya, I really appreciate this, but Jack’s at an age where all relationships he makes are important to him and if I started dating someone and it got serious and then it broke up, it would be horrible for him. I’m not saying that I wouldn’t give someone a chance, but I wish you’d drop this.”

“I just want you to be happy.” Maya told her honestly.

Clarke gave a sad smile and took Maya’s hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. “I know, Maya, and I appreciate it.”

Now, two hours later, Jack was still rambling on about Mr. Bell and Clarke had a nagging thought whispering in her ear that she should encourage the friendship.

“That sounds real fun, sweetie.” She chirped, ruffling her son’s wild curls.

“Can I go back to the library tomorrow, Mommy? Maybe Mr. Bell will go too!” Jack visibly brightened at the thought of seeing his new friend again.

“I don’t know, Jack, you promised Aunt Raven you’d spend the day with her.” Clarke reminded the forgetful four year old.

“Aunty Ray!” Jack cheered, bouncing in his spot. “Wanna play with Aunty Ray tomorrow, Mommy!”

“That sounds like a good idea.” She agreed.


	3. Chapter 3

Thursday came quickly for Bellamy, quicker than it normally came. Right when his student was leaving the library, Jack ran straight to Bellamy, shouting his name.

“Mr. Bell!” The toddler cried, jumping at him.

On instinct, Bellamy reached out and caught the child mid jump and placed him on his hip. Murphy’s daughter was too young to jump like that, but he did have practice from helping Lincoln and Octavia babysit Lincoln’s nephews.

“Hey buddy, what’s up?” Bellamy asked.

“I saw my Aunty Raven yesterday.” Jack said proudly. “And I gots a cool sticker! Look!”

Jack pointed to the sticker on his green T-shirt that said “Mecha Station Mechanics”; Bellamy figured “Aunty Raven” worked there.

“That’s awesome. Did you have fun with your Aunt Raven?” Bellamy placed Jack down on his feet.

“Yep! We played meh-meh-mechanics and played with toy cars.” Jack recalled, taking Bellamy’s hand and leading him deeper into the children’s section.

Before Bellamy knew it, he was surrounded by books about teddy bears and friendly frogs. Instead of coloring together in a coloring book, this time Jack wanted to be read to this time. He picked out two books, both about a frog named Froggy. His heart tingled and he thought back to when Octavia was little.

“Read it again, Bell.” Octavia would beg, even though he’d read the Barbie book 100 times by then.

“Fine, but this is the last time.” Bellamy would huff, but the next day he’d read it again three more times.

“Want me to read this to you, buddy?” Bellamy asked, nodding towards the book.

“Uh huh.” Jack nodded enthusiastically.

Bellamy ended up reading both books and then reading two more. Somehow, Bellamy ended up sharing information about his life and interests with a four year old and hearing the same from him. Bellamy learned that Jack goes to Little Ark Preschool, the same preschool John Murphy’s two year old goes to, that the boy’s mom is an artist, he has lots of “aunts” and “uncles”, and that he has a grandma he doesn’t like who lives in Polis. In exchange Bellamy shared that he has a little sister who’s married, he’s a teacher, he grew up in a town nicknamed Factory Station, and that he doesn’t have any grandparents.

Maybe it should be strange to bond with a toddler, but it didn’t feel strange for Bellamy who was sharing child friendly jokes with a toddler and silly stories. Within a few weeks it became a fun routine,  his sister teases him and says he had finally cracked and adopted a little boy. Bellamy becomes acquainted to Maya, Jack’s aunt, and learns through her when Jack won’t be coming. Eventually he forgets about Jack’s mother and becomes good buddies with the toddler.

After two months of friendship,  Bellamy looked forward to Tuesdays and Thursdays. After an especially good Thursday play date with Jack, Bellamy left for a staff meeting. He always hated going to staff meetings after his playdates with Jack, because staff meetings were always stressful. But today, he was determined to not let this meeting get him down. He walked into the meeting with a fresh cup of coffee and sat next to Harper, a sophomore and junior English teacher. They shared a smile as the meeting began, it droned on and Bellamy ignored half of it until a single sentence snapped him out of it.

“…Thus we are commissioning her to paint the school mural.” Principal Kane announced.

“Why can’t we just get one of the students to do it?” Sterling, the art teacher, questioned.

“We asked, but none of the kids were interested in doing it for free. Plus, this artist is fantastic and her mural will draw attention to the library.” Kane told them, gesturing to the bare wall in the library, where the meeting was being held.

The wall was barren and plain. Bellamy agreed that the school mural would look great there, but he had some serious concerns.

“What about our budget? Marcus, man, we’ve been cutting back as much as we can. How the hell are we gonna afford this chick?” Bellamy demanded. “How many programs are you gonna cut for this shit?”

“Look, I know you’re all concerned about that and it’s understandable, but the school board decided to cut funding for the world languages club.” Kane sighed, running his bronze fingers through his curly hair. “It’s still less than her usual commission money, but she agreed to it.”

“You’re cutting the world language club fund? Are you insane? How are those kids supposed to get money for their trip now?” Lexa, the Spanish teacher, growled.                                                           

Kids had already signed up for a trip to Spain for the summer, something the school was going to pay for. Kane sighed and explained that the club would have to raise the funds themselves. Bellamy understood her frustration.

“Kane, we really don’t need a school mural if we gotta make cuts like this. That’s just not fair to the kids.” Bellamy said, with a slight scoff in his voice. “Look, just because this woman is okay taking money from a school club doesn’t mean we are.”

“She doesn’t know.” Kane snapped, glaring at every teacher in the room. “She doesn’t know we had to cut funding for a club for her commission. She’d probably quit and give back the money.”

“Then she **needs** to know.” Sterling stressed. “We can get the mural when the school gets more funding.”

“The school **isn’t** getting more funding until we get a new governor, Sterling!” Kane snarled. “We’re pressed tight for cash, but we have the lowest reading scores in the entire county and this could help get children interested in reading.”

“This is ridiculous.” Bellamy clicked his tongue.

“You think I don’t know that? This whole situation is ridiculous! The school doesn’t have enough money, we don’t even have enough bus drivers for our school! I know this isn’t an ideal situation, but studies show that art gets children more interested in reading.” Kane laid down the law, making every person in the room tense up and shut up. “And that’s **final**. End of discussion.”

Bellamy went home in a shitty mood and felt the urge to hit something deep in his bones. He hit the gym and marched to the locker room.

“Bellamy, hey man.” Nathan Miller, one of Bellamy’s best friends and gym buddy, greeted.

“Miller.” Bellamy said stiffly.

“What’s wrong, man? You’re tense as hell.” Miller pointed out.

“A club funding is getting cut so the school can get a damn mural done by a professional artist.” Bellamy hissed through clenched teeth.

“Aw man, that sucks.” Miller said as he changed out of his gym clothes into his civilian clothes.

Nathan and Bellamy went to high school together, but didn’t even notice each other until at least four years later. They had both ended up in the same town, Bellamy was newly out of Factory Station and Nathan had spent the last three years in Arkadia. They met at the gym and quickly became good friends and spending a lot of time together. Nathan wasn’t invested in the high school the way Bellamy was, because Nathan works as a cop and has since he moved to Arkadia. He’s a detective now, a very good one, and it helps to have him as Bellamy’s best friend.

“I’ll talk to you later, Nate.” Bellamy said as a goodbye before going to work out until he was less angry.

Back at the Griffin apartment, Jasper had called after learning from Sterling that the money used to hire Clarke for the school mural was taken out of a club fund. Ark High School was struggling with money and thought that a mural in the library would help encourage children to read. It was the type of gig Clarke always loved, but she wasn’t willing to take money that belonged to children and working for free wasn’t exactly something she could do as a single mother.

“Mommy, why are you so sad?” Jack asked, smacking his lips together in exhaustion.

“Mommy’s sad because she’s in an icky situation.” Clarke told her son.

“What’s a si-sit-situation?” Jack stumbled with the word, scrunching up his nose as he tried to figure out the work.

“It’s nothing buddy, don’t worry about it.” She ran a hand through his hair as she dismissed the question.

Jack nodded and eventually nodded off into Clarke’s shoulder as she tried to figure out what to do.

The next morning, Principal Kane stormed into the office and called an emergency meeting. All the teachers showed up, groggy and irritated.

“Kane what the hell?” Bellamy demanded.

“Somehow our artist found out that her pay check would be coming from a club’s funding and has declined and given the money back.” Kane’s words cold, but everyone appeared to brighten.

“That’s great!” Sterling chirped.

“She has graciously offered to give us her sketch and suggested we let some of our more talented students paint the mural with they bring from home.” Kane announced, tossing a sheet of paper on the table.

On the table was a sketch of the words “Dropship Learning” in bubble letter and one of the coolest rocket ships Bellamy has ever seen. Ark High’s mascot was a rocket ship the students referred to as “The Dropship”, and it looked strong in elegant in a way Bellamy didn’t think a rocket could be.

“It’s amazing.” He breathed.

“Yes, it is. Clarke Griffin’s one of the best artists in this town. She could have made the library extraordinary.” Kane sighed.

And as much as Bellamy hated to admit it, as he started down at her art, he had to agree.

“I don’t get it, Bell. Yesterday you were ready to chase this chick away from your school with a baseball bat, and now you wanna find her?” Miller cocked an eyebrow.

“I know it sounds weird, but if you saw her art, Nathan, you’d understand.” Bellamy defended himself weakly.

“You’re talking about hiring her to do the mural using your own money. Do you even know how much she charges?” Nathan demanded.

“No, but I’ll find out and I’ll pay it.” Bellamy huffed.

“God you’re crazy.” Miller mumbled.

“Just give me her address!” Bellamy snapped.

Two hours later, he found himself knocking on her door. The door open and Bellamy saw Jack.

“Mr. Bell!” He cheered.

“J-Jack, uh, hi.” Bellamy stammered, completely caught off guard.

“Jack! I told you not to open the door by yourself!” A woman shouted. “You have to wait until I get downstairs!”

And then she came into the doorway, the woman from the coffee shop all those weeks ago. And Jack turned to her and said “Okay mommy”, causing Bellamy’s brain to sizzle.

“Are you Clarke Griffin?”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which a job offer is made, pining begins and Raven and John are a little shits.

 

 

How Clarke ended up with a man she’s only met once before but her son hero worships in her house on a Friday night was anyone’s guess. It wasn’t that she wasn’t happy to meet him, but he had arrived close to Jack’s bed time and it would take forever to calm him down now. She distracted Jack with cartoons and brought Bellamy into the kitchen.

“What can I do for you, Mr. Bell?” She asked, using the nickname her son uses.

“Bellamy, my name’s Bellamy, Bellamy Blake.” He told her. “I’m a history teacher at Arkadia High School-“ She cut him off quickly.

“Don’t worry, I declined the commission and returned the money. Your school is getting the money back. I’m very sorry about this whole thing.” She apologizes sincerely.

“Oh, I know. I, uh, I actually came to ask you if you’d consider painting the mural if I paid for it.” Bellamy asked.

“Oh. Oh Bellamy, I can’t do that.” Her voice was gentle and she gave him a sad smile that made his heart beat too fast. “I can’t take your money.”

“It wouldn’t be like that! I’d be commissioning you!” He clarified quickly.

She looked hesitant, her eyebrows furrowed and he could see she was biting her inner cheek. Bellamy slowly moved so he was standing directly in front of her.

“Clarke, I’ve seen your work and it’s fantastic.” Bellamy states, meeting her eyes. “You’re very talented, and that art would attract kids to the library. It was wrong for the school to take money out of a school club, but that mural could be the start of a rebirth of the arts in our school. I’ll pay however much your commissions cost. Please, just consider it.”

That was all it took for Clarke. “Okay, I’ll do it.”

They exchanged contact information and Clarke explained her commission fees and they set up a date to discuss the mural. Once he left, she can’t stop thinking about how attractive he is and how Jack’s face lit up when he saw him. She shoved those thoughts back; they were dangerous. She can’t afford to get a stupid childish crush on Bellamy Blake.

In the morning, all Jack wanted to talk about was Mr. Bell and how he was so happy Mr. Bell visited him. She smiled and let her son ramble on about the man, not knowing across town that Bellamy Blake couldn’t get her out of his head.

He couldn’t afford to find her as beautiful as he did, to have the urge to flirt and kiss her like he did. He was buddies with her son and paying her to paint a mural for the school’s library; he had to keep things friendly but not too friendly. But Bellamy had never been one to half ass anything, if he was going to do something, he put his all into it; so he had to put his all into avoiding feelings for Clarke Griffin. He hoped that his thoughts would eventually drift away from the blonde, but his mind kept coming back to her.

“Alright, spill, who is it?” John Murphy said lunch.

“Who’s what?” Bellamy asked.

“Who’s the chick that’s got you all goo-goo eyes. You’ve been staring off into space all day and while it was funny at first, now it’s just pathetic. Spill.” John clicked his tongue impatiently.

“I met this girl-woman, Clarke, and she’s beautiful and a super talented artist.” Bellamy sighed.

“Blake, if you were a cartoon, you’d have heart eyes right now.” John said with a smirk.

“Oh fuck off.” Bellamy scoffed, giving John’s shoulder a shove.

“Alright, so, you gonna ask out Ms. Perfect or what?” John asked, taking a bite of his lunch.

“No, I can’t.” Bellamy frowned, taking a bite of his own lunch.

“Dude, why the fuck not?” Murphy demanded, his voice muffled by his full mouth.

“Because she’s the mother of that little boy I’ve been looking out for, Jack.” Bellamy huffed, looking much like a dramatic teenager.

John cocked an eyebrow and cuffed Bellamy’s ear. “That doesn’t mean you can’t go for it, stupid.”

“It wouldn’t be fair to the kid, you know that.”

“What are you talking about? He fuckin’ loves you, he’d be over the moon if you started datin’ his mom.”

“Well what if he’s not, John? I’ve become attached to this kid and I don’t wanna fuck up my relationship with him because I’ve got some stupid school boy crush on his mom.”

John let out a loud snort. “Really man, your worried about losing the relationship with the kid?”

“Shut up, asshole!” Bellamy hissed, crossing his arms defensively.

“Bell, you gotta admit, that sounds super weird.”

“No it-“ Bellamy cut himself off with a deep sigh. “Fuck, you’re right, it does sound super weird.”

John shot him an “I-Told-You-So” look and Bellamy raised his hand to say “don’t even”. John put his hands up in mock surrender.

“I mean, don’t get me wrong, bro, I get it. You got this paternal instinct and no kid, so you’re unleashing it all on this kid who doesn’t have a father and has become a constant in your life.” John rationalized, waving his hands around as he spoke.

“Don’t go all shrink on me, man.” Bellamy order with a stern look. “I mean it, I don’t wanna do that today.”

He hated it when John got all “shrink” on him. He’d known John long before the guy was even thinking about being a productive member of society, and now John works as a psychologist the city over. It messed with his head whenever he thought about just how much time had passed since he met John in high school.

“Whatever man, I’m not the one with a weird crush on a person I met twice.” John shrugged, stuffing his mouth full of food, making Bellamy flip him off.

The two men settled into mindless bore about sports, while across town Raven Reyes was sprawled out across her couch as Clarke Griffin pleaded her case as to why she needed Raven to take an extra babysitting day this week.

“Lemme get this straight.” Raven said, holding her hands up, silencing Clarke momentarily. “You get offered a job, you accept it, then find out your being paid money that belongs to a high school club?”

“Correct, but-“ Clarke is cut off by Raven raising a palm to silence her again.

“So you give back the money and decline the job?” Raven questioned.

“Yes but-“ Raven pressed her index finger firmly over Clarke’s lips, silencing her.

“And then a teacher from this school comes to your house, happens to be this Mr. Bell Jack’s obsessed with and commissions to you for the job you just quit?”

Clarke nodded, staying silent this time.

“And you need me to babysit Jack while you work on the mural?” Raven asked.

Another nod.

“Okay, sure.” Raven shrugged, finally moving her finger away from Clarke’s lips.

“Thank you so much, Raven. You have no ide-“ Raven cut her off again.

“Not so fast, Griffin, I’ll do it under one condition.” Raven said with a playful smirk.

“What condition?” Clarke demands, cocking an eyebrow.

“You gotta tell me how hot Mr. Responsibility is!” Raven Hollard, waving her hands in her face like she’s too warm. “A man who likes children? Girl, why aren’t you balls deep in him right now?”

“Raven!” Clarke hissed, obviously shocked.

“What?” Raven demanded, throwing her hands up dramatically.

“You can’t say shit like that!” Clarke told her, almost scolding.

“Why the fuck not? No little ears here, Clarkey. I can say whatever the fuck I want.” Raven reminded her with an amused smirk.

Clarke rolled her eyes and flopped down next to Raven on the couch. “God, I’ve forgotten what it’s like to be able to curse in your own home.”

“Pathetic.” Raven said.

“Oh shut up, Reyes! You’re the one telling me to go fuck a guy I barley know.”

“Girl, you’ve had a dry spill longer than the Sahara Desert, get out there! You’re a mom, not dead.”

“It’s not that simple and you know it.” Clarke huffed. “Besides, I know nothing about him. I just think he’s cute.”

“And he’s great with Jack and he’s passionate about his community and kids. Face it, Griffin, it’s love at first sight.”

“Ugh! Raven, stop it!”

“Yeah whatever. I want updates and Professor Hottie or no deal.”

“He’s not a professor…”

“Oh my god, you’re such a fucking dork, Clarke!” Raven tossed a pillow at her. “Get outta my house, you crazy kid.”

Clarke gave a big wink and shouted “see you Tuesday!” at Raven before leaving and heading to Jasper and Maya’s house to get Jack. Jasper and Maya had always been really good with Jack, way better than anyone had expected Jasper to be with children, and they spent the most time with him.

Clarke and Jasper had met their freshman year off college. Their dorms were on the same floor and they both had gotten roommates that they didn’t get along with. Anya, Clarke’s roommate, had been a nightmare and Jasper’s roommate, Miles, followed him around and stalked him constantly. They quickly took up hiding from their roommates together and became good friends right away. Clarke’s determination and stickler for the rules attitude should have clashed with Jasper’s easy going personality, but somehow they just fit together. Jasper’s the only person from Clarke’s freshman year of college that she still talks to.

“Clarke!” Jasper’s shouts brought her out of her thoughts as she stood outside his door. “Have you come for your kidlet?”

“I have indeed.” Clarke said with a grin.

“Kidlet, it’s time to rock and roll! Your mothership is here!” Jasper shouted.

“Mommy!” Jack’s little voice shrieked as he came running full steam ahead at her legs.

She swooped down and scooped him up like he weighed nothing and placed him on her hip. Maya came towards the door with Jack’s travel bag and sent a joyful smile.

“Thanks so much for doing this as always, guys.” Clarke thanked them.

“It’s no problem, Clarke, you know that!” Jasper scoffed dismissively.

Maya quickly met Jasper’s eyes before beaming at Clarke. “It’s good practice.” And then Maya cupped her belly.

Clarke’s eyes bulged and she gasped audibly. “Oh my god, you’re pregnant?!”

“Ten weeks.” Maya breathed, her face lit up like a child on Christmas.

“Isn’t it awesome?” Jasper asked, his leg shaking like an excited puppy. “It’s awesome! We’re gonna be parents!”

“You guys! I’m so happy for you, congratulations!” Clarke exclaimed, hugging them both as Jack scrunched his nose up in confusion.

“What’s pregnant?” Jack asked.

“Crap!” The three adults yelled.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bellamy plays dress up and Clarke is a wine mom.

“Is that cologne? Oh my god, it is! You’re fucking wearing cologne!” Octavia shouted, gaping at Bellamy.

“Shut up.” Bellamy grumbled.

“Oh my god, you must totally want this chick to like you.” Octavia smirked.

“Nah, you don’t say.” Bellamy drawled sarcastically.

“God, you’re like a little kid dressing up for his first date.” Octavia snickered.

“O, leave him alone, it’s kind of sweet.” Lincoln added his two cents, wrapping an arm around his wife as she teased her brother from the doorway.

“Do you guys mind? I’m trying to get ready, here.” Bellamy pursed his lips in irritation.

“Yeah, we don’t want you to be late for your date.” Octavia wiggled her eyebrows before tuning to leave.

“It’s not a date!” Bellamy shouted way too quickly, his face flushed.

“Sure it’s not.” Lincoln snickered.

“Back off before I make sure I never become an uncle.” Bellamy warned.

Lincoln put his hands up in surrender, still chuckling and left him alone to continue to get ready. Okay, so maybe, just maybe, Bellamy was dressing a bit nicer than usual, but it’s not because he has a stupid crush on Clarke. Really, it’s not! Okay, yeah, it is.

Bellamy sighed in exasperation as he smoothed down his white button down for the fifth time, making sure his hair was styled to give it the look that he spent no time on it when he’d spent almost half an hour. Today he was showing Clarke the library and talk more in depth about the mural. When he broke the news to Kane that he had hired Clarke with his own money, Kane had been so happy he looked like he was going to burst into song and dance.

Clarke showed up at Arkadia High School twenty minutes early, just to scoop out the area and get a feel of the place. She had lived in Arkadia for a few years now, but she hadn’t grown up here the way Monty and Jasper had. Maya was from Mount Weather, Virginia, the next county over while Raven was from Meca, Connecticut and Clarke herself was from Alpha, New York. From what she could tell, Arkadia High was nothing like Alpha Prep School had been and for Clarke, that was a relief.

She was the first thing Bellamy noticed when he pulled up to the parking lot. She looked like a model, just standing out in the parking lot with the Autumn winds blowing against her and ruffling her hair. Bellamy wanted to punch himself till the lump in his throat disappeared, but instead he got out of his car and greeted her.

“Clarke!” He called, jogging towards her. “Hi, I hope I didn’t keep you waiting too long.”

Clarke smiled and her whole face lit up. If Bellamy didn’t know better, he’d be checking for hidden lights shining on her face.

“Oh no you didn’t. I came early on purpose, to try to get a feel of the school, y’know?” She gestures towards the school. “I grew up in Alpha, New York, so I didn’t go here.”

“I get it. I’m not from here either.” Bellamy tells her.

“Where are you from?” She finds herself asking as she attempts to tuck her wild curls behind her ears.

“Walden, Minnesota. Or as it’s more commonly known as, Factory Station.” Bellamy informed her, frowning slightly as he thought about his hometown.

Walden wasn’t a big city or suburbia; Walden was a shit hole town that held barley over 10,000 people. It was dubbed “Factory Station” because there’s twenty factories and not much else.

“Oh, I’ve heard of Walden. My friend John’s from there!” She chirped.

“Huh, I didn’t know many people from Walden lived here now.” He said with a shrug. “Anyways, come on, let me show you the library.”

“Oh, please. I’ve been dying to see it.” She admitted. “I always liked to get a feel of the place I’m painting, if that makes any sense.”

“Yeah, I totally get it.” Bellamy nodded as he led her into the school.

The library was large and peaceful. On one half of the library there were tables, desks and chairs and on the other there were beanbags and a couch. There were no decorations in the library; the walls were bare and bland. To Bellamy, the library may be bland, but it was peaceful.

“I can work with this.” Clarke said as she took in her surroundings.

“Can I show you were we want you to put the mural?” Bellamy asked.

“Of course!” Clarke exclaimed.

Bellamy led her to a wall that sat between two humongous bookshelves. The wall was quiet large, so Clarke had plenty of room for the mural.

“This okay for you?” He asked, looking genuinely worried she’d say no.

“Yeah, it’s great. I’ve got plenty of room and I don’t have to worry about it moving anything so I don’t get paint on it. It’s a smart choice.” She assured him, flashing him a soft smile.

Bellamy’s breath caught in his throat and he felt like he was thirteen all over again, crushing after a beautiful girl he was too scared of to make a move on. The setting played all the more into his feelings of a school boy as she turned to him with an earnest expression.

“Do you want to make any modifications to the design?” She asked, cocking her head ever so slightly to the left.

“Oh, no. No, it’s perfect.” He told her, shaking his head from side to side.

“Are you sure? Is that anything you want more of or less of or don’t see and wish to see?” She questioned, squinting slightly as she waited impatiently for an answer.

“Do you… Do you think you could add books into the design somehow?” He asked gently.

He knew this wasn’t normally like him, but he feared of upsetting her and losing not only a crush but an artist. Instead, she scrunched up her nose and turned her attention to her sketch. She sat down on a bean bag and toyed with the drawing for fifteen minutes before showing it to Bellamy.

“Better?” She raised an eyebrow.

An astronaut chasing after books that were floating away from the spaceship had been added to the design. Bellamy couldn’t call himself an art critic, he liked art just fine but he wasn’t the type who went to art museums and soaked up art the way Lincoln did; but he felt an attachment to the design.

“I like the astronaut.” Bellamy told her, forcing himself to speak his unfiltered thoughts. “The fact that he’s chasing after the books, I like even better. He has a purpose, he has a goal, and he appears close to reaching it. I think… I think I could have used something like this when I was in High School; a symbol of determination. It’s perfect, Clarke. Thank you.”

“No, thank you.” She said quickly, grinning at him. “Your perspective on the astronaut is very fascinating, y’know. Most people, are either too brash with their ideas or are too scared I’ll quit to give input on my work. But the way you described him, it’s like you understand it.”

Understanding art? Not exactly something Bellamy would put down on his resume, he didn’t even understand what that meant. But the way Clarke said it, it was as if she was waiting desperately for someone to “understand” the art. Her eyes were bright and sparkling with excitement, and Bellamy refused to be the one to end the sparkle in her eyes.

“I think it’s an awesome piece.” He told her, flashing her his most charming smile.

“When do you think I can start working on it?” She asked.

“Uh, I don’t know. I’ll talk to the Principal tomorrow and get back to you once he gives me answer. Sound good?”

“Sounds perfect.” Clarke beamed. “Well, I guess this is it. I’ll talk to you soon Bellamy, you have a good rest of your day.”

Clarke left the library as Bellamy stood there with a smile frozen on his face. The door clicked shut, signaling he was alone and he let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. The empty library felt peaceful and calming as he took time to collect himself.

This really wasn’t like him.

Bellamy hadn’t acted like a love sick teenager since he **was** a love sick teenager, and this was not something he wanted to act like. He let out a groan and tugged at his curls.

“What the fuck, Bell? Why can’t you just be cool like you are with most girls?” Bellamy hissed at himself. “You gotta make yourself look like a fucking idiot in front of a beautiful girl; a beautiful girl you don’t even know! We’re gonna lose everything if you don’t get your shit together!”

The grown man threw himself onto a beanbag, taking a deep breath as the beanbag deflated from his weight. “Just get your shit together, Bell.” He whispered to himself. “Before you fuck this up for everyone.”

Clarke drove to Monty’s house like there was a time limit. Monty had been one of Clarke’s good friends from college. Monty was a shoulder to cry on for Clarke, but he always had a snappy comeback and was smarter than most people Clarke knew or knew of. Her pathetic little crush on Bellamy was so stupid and all she wanted to do was whine about it with Monty and Raven and bitch about men for hours. Bellamy had understood her art, understood the astronaut without even meaning to; he understood her art.

The moment Monty opened his door, his face fell. “Clarke, are you okay?”

“I’m losing my fuckin’ mind, Monty.” She muttered.

He took a step back and ushered her into his house. Jack was with Raven, so Clarke was free to curse to her hearts content as she sat down on Monty’s couch.

“Tell Uncle Monty what’s going on.” He commanded with a smirk toying on his lips.

“I’ve got  a stupid school girl crush on my current employer!” Clarke blurted, giving Monty an exasperated look.

“Yep, this shit calls for wine.” He said, mostly to himself.

Clarke grunted in agreement as Monty scurried to the kitchen and returned with a bottle of red wine and two wine glasses.  He filled a glass and placed in her hand.

“Now tell me what’s going on, Clarke.” He pressed, pouring his own glass of wine.

“You know how Jack has this guy he idolizes from the library?” Clarke asked, draining her first glass and quickly going for a refill.

“Of course.” Monty scoffed. “I don’t live under a rock.”

“Well, he works at Arkadia High School and has commissioned me to paint a mural for the school library.” Clarke let out a dramatic sigh. “And Monty, fuck, he’s like a damn dream boat! He’s smart and nice and good with kids and fuck, he’s so damn hot!”

“Sounds like he’s too good to be true.” Monty commented, raising a knowing eyebrow as he sipped on his wine.

“He probably is, but that’s not the problem.” Clarke clicked her tongue. “I’ve got a school girl crush on him, Monty! Like, I wanna blush and giggle and play with my fair like a fourteen year old when I’m around him.”

“Go on.” Monty prompted.

“Monty, I cannot screw this up! If I lost the job it’d suck big time, but it would be nothing compared to if Jack lost this relationship. He’d **never** forgive me!” She exclaimed, the empty hand flailing as she spoke.

“Clarke, you know I love you, but get a grip, woman!” Monty exclaimed. “I know you’ve got a crush and crushes are fuckin’ dumb and terrifying but take a deep breath and get your shit together. Finish your wine, let me drive you home and put some more work into your designs. Just try not to think about it, and if he flirts with you, you can flirt back but for now let it be.”

“Let it be.” Clarke repeated to herself, nodding and taking another swing from her glass. “Thanks Monty.”

“Not a problem, c’mon, let’s get you home.”


	6. Chapter 6

 

“Hey John, it’s Bellamy, wanna come over tonight for beers tonight?” Bellamy asked, talking into the phone.

It was late Monday afternoon and Bellamy needed a distraction from Clarke Griffin. She was an all-consuming black hole when it came to his thoughts.

“Uh, yeah, sure. I’ve got a meeting at the Day Care, but we can meet up after.” John answered.

“How bout I just pick you up from the Day Care?” Bellamy offered.

“Oh no man, I can’t ask you to do that.” John said.

“You’re not asking, I’m offering.” Bellamy reminded him.

“Alright, ya little shit, I get it. Yeah, okay whatever, pick me up at five.” John clicked his tongue before hanging up.

“Who was that?” The woman standing next to John asked.

“My friend. He’s gonna pick me up so we can watch the football game after the meeting.” John told her, smiling at her.

The woman standing next to John had become his friend since enrolling his daughter, Roma, into Little Ark Day Care. The meeting was due to Little Ark Day Care planning to move to a bigger site, so all the parents were there to discuss it with the staff.

“Sounds fun, John. Must be so nice to have Emori to watch Roma when you need a night off.” She grinned.

“Yeah, it is. But hey, you get to go home and have an awesome night with Jack and no spouse to bug you, Clarke.” John reminded her.

Clarke chuckled and hit John’s arm playfully. “Oh shut up.”

The secretary came out and told the parents waiting in the lobby that the meeting was about to begin.

At four fifty Bellamy pulled up outside Little Ark Day Care, Aerosmith blasting from his speakers as he drummed on his steering wheel. As the parents began to swarm out of the building, he was the first thing her eyes landed on.

“Shit!” Clarke hissed under her breath as he caught sight of him.

“Oh cool, Bellamy’s here.” John said, mostly to himself.

“Wait, you know Bellamy?” She snapped her head in his direction so fast he heard it crack.

“Yeah, he’s the friend that’s picking me up to watch football. I wasn’t aware you knew him though.” John told her.

“Oh, well, I didn’t meet him that long ago.” She said awkwardly.

“Wanna come say hi?” John asked, gesturing towards Bellamy’s car.

From the car Bellamy saw her standing next to John.

“Oh fuck!” He groaned, throwing his head back in exasperation.

It figures that while trying to seek refuge from his thoughts of Clarke, he’d run into the real Clarke. As much as he wanted to sink into his seat, he couldn’t stop watching as she spoke with John. John gestured towards Bellamy’s car and Bellamy felt himself pale. Clarke smiled and shook her head before walking off, but Bellamy was still mildly panicking when John entered his car.

“Dude, what the fuck?” Bellamy hissed.

“What?” John blinked, completely confused.

“Why didn’t you tell me you know Clarke?!” Bellamy demanded.

“Bell, I didn’t even know **you** knew her until two minutes ago.” John pointed out.

“What are you talking about? I’ve been talking about her all week!” Bellamy pointed out.

“Wait? Oh my god, Clarke’s the mystery girl you’ve got a huge heart boner over? Dude!” John exclaimed, a laugh bursting from his lips. “Oh man, that’s ridiculous.”

“What? Why?” Bellamy asked, his brain beginning to read into things once again.

“I just didn’t see that coming. That’s all.” John raised his hands in surrender, grinning at his friend.

“Oh, okay.” Bellamy muttered to himself.

“So, when you gonna pass her the note?” John questioned as Bellamy drove towards his house.

“What note?” Bellamy raised an eyebrow.

“Y’know, the note confessing your big crush on her.” John smirked, puckering his lips and making obnoxious kissing noises.

“Shut up!” Bellamy barked, slapping John’s shoulder.

“Oh man, you’ve got the biggest crush on her!” John shook with laughter. “Oh man, the great Bellamy Blake has a giant school boy crush. This is too much.”

“Oh fuck you.” Bellamy scoffed.

As Bellamy drove home with John laughing like a mad man in his passenger seat, he was completely unaware that across town Octavia had come to a realization.

“I cannot believe this.” She said, mostly to herself. “You’ve known Clarke all this time and haven’t said anything?”

Lincoln shrugged at his wife. “I didn’t want to overwhelm Bellamy, you know how weird and skittish he can be when he has strong feelings for people.”

“That’s not the point!” Octavia objected. “I get not telling Bellamy, but not telling me? What a horrible husband!” She teased.

Lincoln rolled his eyes as he chuckled.

“So, tell me about her.” Octavia prompted.

“She’s an artist and a single mom.” Lincoln began. “Clarke’s very intelligent and strong willed, she can be quite bullheaded sometimes. Her dad died a few years before she had her son and she doesn’t have much of a relationship with her mother. Uh, she came from a privileged background.”

“Anything else?” Octavia pushed.

“No, not really.” Lincoln hummed.

“Well, I have to meet her.” Octavia exclaimed.

“No, uh, no you really don’t.” Lincoln interjected.

“Yes, yes I do. I need to meet the girl who’s got Bell makin’ goo-goo eyes.” Came Octavia’s rebuttal with a wicked grin.

“O, you know I love you, but I think we should stay out of this one.” Lincoln told his wife slowly.

“Linc, babe, you know I love you, but I’m gonna ignore your suggestion so just give me her number.” Octavia deadpanned.

Lincoln let out a sigh and handed over his phone and watched as his wife began texting Clarke in glee.

Clarke wasn’t sure how it happened, but on a Wednesday afternoon she found herself having lunch with Octavia Woods, Lincoln’s wife. Clarke had known Lincoln from his child art classes he teaches. Jack used to go to them and had a ball with Lincoln, but eventually decided he didn’t like art that much. They became pretty good friends after that, but that still didn’t explain to Clarke how she found herself laughing with Octavia over fast food.

“Oh man, if I’d known that you were this funny I would have asked to meet you sooner.” Clarke told Octavia in between laughs.

“Oh my god, I can’t believe we only met an hour ago! I feel like I’ve known you forever.” Octavia admitted.

“We should hang out again sometime.” Clarke said with a smile.

“Absolutely! Hey, if you’re free later on this week you should have dinner with me and Lincoln. My brother will be there though, I think you might know him; his name’s Bellamy.” Octavia chatted.

“Wait, Bellamy Blake?” Clarke demanded.

“Yeah, Bellamy Blake, that’s my older brother.” Octavia confirmed, pretending she didn’t realize she just dropped a bomb on Clarke.

“Um, I’m not sure if I can go.” Clarke lied.

“What? Why not?” Octavia demanded.

“Last minute child care is hard to find.” Clarke offered up an excuse.

“You can bring your son with you.”  Octavia waved it off.

“Well, Jack’s only four, he can be a handful.” Clarke tried, pressing her excuse.

“I’d love to meet him. Lincoln says he’s down right adorable.” Octavia beamed.

“He is pretty adorable.” Clarke agreed softly.

“So you’ll come?” Octavia pushed, grinning like a mad woman.

“Yeah, we’ll come.” Clarke gave in.

“Fantastic!” Octavia cried. “I can’t wait! It’ll be so much fun!”

Later that night Clarke found herself sitting in her kitchen with a tub of ice cream and a glass of wine, Raven sitting next to her with matching wine and ice cream.

“I can’t believe you got yourself into this situation.” Raven snorted as she fed herself.

“You are? I’m not. I keep making dumb choices.” Clarke sighed.

“Hey, maybe it’s fate telling you to give him a chance as more than a friend or employer.” Raven suggested.

“Pft, yeah right.” Clarke scoffed. “Ray, I’m a single mother, if that doesn’t throw him off, my stretch marks will make him leave.”

“Quit it!” Raven clicked her tongue. “You’re a hot mama, anybody would be lucky to get a night with you.”

Clarke smiled at her friend and shoved another spoonful of ice cream into her mouth.


	7. Chapter 7

“Octavia, I’m gonna kill you!” Bellamy shouted.

“No you’re not, you love me too much.” Octavia gave her rebuttable with a smirk.

“You invited my crush to dinner! Love isn’t a word I’d use right now.” Bellamy snarled.

“Bell, this pining is ridiculous. I’m giving the push you clearly need.” Octavia scoffed, clicking her tongue.

“Not another word.” Bellamy hissed, glaring at his sister.

Octavia scoffed and flipped her hair over her shoulder, reminding Bellamy way too much of when she was a moody teenager.

“Look Bell, if I ran this by you, you would have gotten all awkward and tried to plan it yourself and make it weird.” Octavia pursed her lips as she explained. “This is your chance to make an impression as a person, not her employer. For God’s sake, Bell, take it!”

As much as Bellamy hated to admit it, his sister was right. This would be there first real interaction that didn’t have to do with work and if this all worked out, he could leave a good impression. But what if it went badly? What if he did something wrong and she decided she can’t even look at him? His anxiety was crawling up his back, but he bit his lip and nodded his head. He **had** to take this chance.

Two days later, Clarke was standing in front of the mirror, fixing her hair. She turned to Jack, who was sitting on her bed in his nicest button down shirt and khakis.

“Jack, how does Mommy look?” Clarke asked.

“You look pretty, Mommy!” Jack beamed, giving his mom a thumbs up. “You’re the prettiest mommy I’ve ever seen.”

“And you look so handsome, Jack.” Clarke told her son, reaching out and smoothing his curly mess of a hair.

“I know.” Jack sing-songed, giggling as he did so.

“You know?” Clarke mock gasped.

Jack giggled like a mad man, clapping his tiny hands together. Clarke walked over to her baby boy and took him into her arms and placed him on her hip.

“You ready to have dinner with Mr. Bell and his sister and her husband?” Clarke asked.

“Yeah.” Jack said, nodding his head, his white teeth sparkling.

“Yeah, me too.” Clarke agreed.

“Do you tink it’ll be fun, Mommy?” Jack asked as Clarke walked over to the car.

“I don’t know, Jacky. It could be, I hope it is.” Clarke says.

Jack nodded and allowed his mom to maneuver him into his car seat. By the time the two Griffins finally got to their destination, Bellamy had checked himself in the mirror over twenty times and begged his sister to cancel over five times. The chime of the doorbell made Bellamy’s heart pound.

“Don’t be a dick, go answer it.” Octavia hissed, shoving him at the door.

He sent a quick glare over his shoulder before collecting himself and answering the door.

“Clarke, Jack! It’s so good to see you guys!” He exclaimed, grinning at them.

“Mr. Bell!” Jack cheered, his face breaking out into a smile when he saw the older man.

“Hey buddy! You hungry?” Bellamy asked.

“Uh huh.” The little boy answered.

“That good because we have enough food to feed a T-rex!” Bellamy said dramatically.

“A whole T-Rex?” Jack questioned.

“A grown up one.” Bellamy whispered like it was a secret, causing the little boy to break out into a fit of giggles.

“C’mon Mommy, let’s eat!” Jack shouted, yanking his mom’s hand.

With a laugh, Clarke allowed her son to lead her into the house. Octavia stole Jack away within seconds to introduce herself and begin to play with the little boy, leaving Bellamy and Clarke alone while Lincoln cooked.

“Who’s cooking?” Clarke found herself wondering.

“Lincoln is. The guy’s built like a brick house but he cooks like a professional.” Bellamy told her. “We used to have dinner more often but Lincoln cooks so good, I was afraid I’d lose my perfect figure.”

Bellamy’s joke sent memories of Bellamy’s gorgeous arms bulging under his shirt and her cheeks heated up.

“I should go see if there is anything I can do for him.” Clarke blurted out.

“You can ask if you want, but last time I asked he didn’t have anything.” Bellamy shrugged. “Kitchen’s right there.”

Clarke smiled at him and shuffled into the kitchen, finding Lincoln in front of the stove.

“Hey Lincoln, it smells great in here.” Clarke greeted her friend.

“Clarke, hey, it’s great to see you. You look fantastic.” Lincoln told her, giving her a quick hug.

“Thanks, Linc. I came in to see if you had anything you needed some help with.” Clarke informed him.

“Nah, I got this.” He nodded towards the oven where the chicken was cooking.

“Oh, okay.” Clarke said softly.

She left the kitchen and her eyes fell on Bellamy. He was sitting on a leather couch with his feet kicked up on the coffee table and yet, he still somehow managed to look like a model.

“I guess he didn’t have anything for you to do.” Bellamy teased gently.

“I guess not… Is this your house?” Clarke asked, unsure of what to say.

“Yep, this is my house.” Bellamy answered.

“Well, you have a lovely home. It’s refreshing to see a place that isn’t over run with toys.” Clarke said with a smile.

“I’m glad you like it.” Bellamy said with a chuckle.

The two begin a comfortable mindless conversation, more of just chitter chatter really. Octavia found herself watching them out of the corner of her eye and she couldn’t help but notice that despite the fact they didn’t know each other well, they seemed to really like each other. Bellamy was sucking in his bottom lip as he spoke to the blond in front of him, something he always does when he’s talking to a girl he really likes. A smile grew on Octavia’s face and she found herself hoping against hope that her plan works.

“Dinner’s ready!” Lincoln called from the kitchen, sending everyone scurrying to the dining room.

Dinner itself was delicious, but what really caught Clarke’s eye, was the way Jack kept turning to Bellamy with a big grin on his face and how Bellamy would look down at him with that big, goofy grin. Her heart ached and she knew that she had to do something. When they left the Blake’s that night, Clarke knew she had to make her move.


	8. Chapter 8

Clarke was ready to **go**. Today was all about her plan to finally ask Bellamy out. She was going to show up at the library just five minutes before Maya left for the day so she could see Bellamy and ask him out. She spent a good amount of time picking out an outfit that showed her off but also covered her up and made her feel good about how she looked. As she looked herself over in the mirror, she had a gut feeling it would be okay. Nothing could stop her nothing. Well, nothing except…

“Mommy, why don’t I have a daddy?” Jack asked.

“W-what?” Clarke blinked stupidly.

“Why don’t I have a daddy?” Jack repeated.

Clarke took a deep breath and crouched down to Jack’s size. “Because sometimes things with Mommies and Daddies can be very hard. Sometimes Mommies and Daddies make bad choices and leave their children.”

“Did my daddy leave me?” Jack questioned.

Moments like these, Clarke wished she had a damn handbook on how to handle this. Her son was too young for her to say “your dad is a deadbeat, cheating piece of shit” and she didn’t want Jack to feel unwanted or unloved.

“Yes. Jack, your daddy, was a very selfish person.” Clarke told her son seriously. “He didn’t care about anyone but himself, not even me. So he left us, to go be by himself.”

“Why?” Jack demanded.

“Because he’s selfish. He doesn’t care if it hurts us.”

“Is he ever gonna come back, Mommy?”

Clarke felt her heart shatter like a sledgehammer had been taken to it.

“I don’t think so, Jack.” She whispered. “But that’s okay, because we don’t need him. I love you so much, buddy.”

Jack nodded his head, but he looked both crushed and confused. That look made Clarke feel like a failure as a mom. She couldn’t protect her son from this one, something so simple yet so painful.

“I know it doesn’t make a lot of sense now, but one day it will.” She sighed, pressing a kiss to her son’s cheek. “Now c’mon, let’s get you ready for the day.”

After she dropped Jack off, she went to Raven’s. She needed to vent. Forget asking out Bellamy, Jack was crushed by the knowledge that his dad abandoned them, and if anyone understood how much of a dick Finn Collins was, it was Raven.

“Jesus Christ.” Raven sighed when she heard the news. “Fuck, poor little man. Learning that shit is always hard.”

“I’m just so frustrated!” Clarke huffed angrily, throwing her hands up. “My son deserves so much better than Finn, then some guy that made me the ‘other woman’ and ditched me when I was pregnant. I don’t even know how to make it better!”

“Because you can’t, Clarke.” Raven deadpanned. “This is one thing you can’t fix.”

“But I want to so bad.” Clarke whispered, her voice cracking.

“Oh, hon.” Raven breathed, sitting down next to Clarke and gently touching her shoulder. “I know you do.”

“He’s just so hurt, Ray.” Clarke croaked, tears were just barely managing not to break away from her eyes.

“He has a right to be. What Finn did was awful and Jack has to deal with the aftermath.” Raven hummed solemnly. “No one ever deserves it, but it doesn’t stop it from happening.”

The two girls took the day off, decided to spend the time trying to figure out how to cheer the little boy up rather than work.

Bellamy walked into the library like he always did, ready to see his little buddy and play with him. Bellamy still couldn’t get over how normal it felt to spend time with someone else’s son. But today, Jack wasn’t bouncing in his seat with excitement when Bellamy saw him, he was just staring at the book in front of him.

“Hey buddy.” Bellamy greeted.

“Hi Mr. Bell.” Jack sighed, his eyes never once moving.

Bellamy blinked in confusion and peaked down at the book. He sucked in a sharp breath at the picture in front of him, a picture of a son and father, happy and smiling.

“What’s going on, Jack?” Bellamy asked.

Jack didn’t look up as he spoke. “My daddy didn’t want me.”

Bellamy had kind of figured that had been the case when he discovered that Clarke was a single mom,  but he still hurt for the sweet boy in front of him. In one swift movement, Bellamy covered the illustration with his hand, forcing the toddler to meet his eyes.

“My daddy didn’t want me either, buddy. But do you wanna know a secret?” Bellamy asked, earning a hesitantly nod. “Daddies that don’t want their kids are bad people.”

Jack’s furrowed eyebrows hinted that the boy wasn’t convinced as Bellamy gently took Jack’s small hand in his large one.

“Listen to me, Jack. You are one of the best kids I’ve ever met. You are kind and smart and your daddy is a bad man if he does not want someone as special as you in it.” Bellamy breathed, looking Jack directly in his big blue eyes.

“R-really?” Jack whispered, his bottom lip trembling.

“Really.” Bellamy reassured him.

Jack’s lips quivered harder and he threw himself at Bellamy, who caught him with an “Umph!” but didn’t complain. Jack’s small body shook with the force of his tears, his chubby little arms locked around Bellamy’s neck. It was surprising how comfortable it felt for Bellamy, to have Jack in his arms, it was almost scary. Quietly, he shushed Jack as he rubbed his back and whispered that everything was okay. Minutes went by like that before Bellamy pressed a soft kiss to the child’s forehead, unaware that Clarke Griffin had just witnessed the whole thing.

“Holy shit, that’s Bellamy?” Raven hissed in Clarke’s ear as the two women watched the scene in front of them.

Clarke gave a jerk nod, unable to tear her eyes away for just one second. Bellamy looked so good with Jack in his arms, it looked so natural, so peaceful. Clarke was almost embarrassed that seeing this made her want Bellamy more.

Almost.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke's crush on Bellamy grows

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry that this is super short but I've had writers block and my grandpa died and I have a bad back condition. Just a bunch of shit happened but I'm trying to return to this now.

Clarke decided to give it a few before approaching the two. She silently prayed that no one could tell her legs were trembling and her heart was trying to jump out of her chest.

“Jack, sweetie, are you okay?” She asked, her voice soft and gentle as she slowly reached out for her son.

Jack lifted his head out of Bellamy’s chest, his bottom lip wobbling and cried out “Mommy!”, his voice cracking pitifully. Bellamy looked up at Clarke and gave her a sad smile, one she had seen others give her many times before, but there was an understanding behind Bellamy’s smile that she wasn’t used to. Easily, she accepted her son into her arms and he curled himself around her, as if her toddler was trying to mold himself into her body. She rubbed his back with a strong, loving hand that only mothers seemed to have.

“Thank you for looking out for him.” Clarke said as Jack’s eyes struggled to stay opened from his emotional outburst.

“It’s no problem. Jack’s a great kid and he deserves better than a dad who didn’t want him.” Bellamy told Clarke sincerely and earnestly.

Clarke’s heart clenched, and if she were a teenage girl on a sitcom, she would have sighed and batted her eyelashes. But Clarke wasn’t a teenage girl on a sitcom, so she gave a small smile and kissed her son’s curls, nodding in agreement with Bellamy’s words.

“You’re right. Jack deserves much better than Finn and Finn is missing out by not having my son in his life.” Clarke stated.

“He seems tuckered out. I think this has been a hard day for him.” Bellamy pointed out empathetically, reaching out to brush back Jack’s hair.

Clarke had always been strangely protective and maybe borderline possessive of her son. Jack wasn’t a toy, you couldn’t just touch him whenever you want with dirty, grungy hands. He was a kid, a good, sweet kid that deserved only loving, affectionate touch from family. So when Bellamy reached out, Raven, who had been watching the scene unfold, cringed; thinking Clarke would snap. But strangely, Bellamy’s touch was loving and affectionate, that of one you would give a loved one. Clarke didn’t object and smiled at the man as Jack smacked his little lips together and nuzzled into the crook of his mother’s neck.

“I’m gonna take the little guy home, get him to bed.” Clarke said, breaking the silence.

“Okay. You have a good day, Clarke, it’s been good seeing you.” Bellamy nodded.

Clarke nodded back and scurried back to Raven, her arms holding Jack securely in place.

“So, did you ask him out?” Raven demanded when Clarke returned.

“Raven!” Clarke hissed. “I wasn’t going to ask him out when he had just had an emotional moment like that with my son!”

“Why the fuck not?” Raven demanded. “That emotional connection, seeing how much Bellamy cares, that was sexy, Clarke. Don’t even deny it, you know seeing that was sexy and you wanted to see more of that.”

“I’m not denying it, but I can’t do this, Raven.” Clarke sighed dramatically. “I can’t ask Bellamy out! I mean, what if whatever happens between us destroys his relationship with Jack? Jack needs him, Ray. You saw them together, Jack needs Bellamy. I can’t fuck that up.”

Raven gave a sigh of defeat. “Fine, party pooper.”

And together, they went home.


End file.
